I always say I'm not consistent, and all that my grades show is the order of how I like a wine within a set of TNs. Well, here there's no order, just 3 wines that I like a lot, think good examples of their genres, and found to be good values in the roughly $20 range.
A pair of absolutely gorgeous fall days, with temps in upper 60s. At the farmers market Saturday I picked up some scallops, last of season corn, and bok choy. Dinner was the scallops with a basil sauce (I made a batch of pesto to freeze, threw the leftover in the saute pan at end), corn with saffron, and stirfried cabbage. Wine was the 2011 Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon Blanc #2. Lovely version this year (well, like most years), sweet citrus and melon fruit, plenty of minerally goodness. Balanced acids, good length, I like. B+
Sunday was a long day with a meeting, afterwards I took a long walk with the hound and then had an assortment of leftovers with the 2011 Clos St. Magdeleine Cassis Rose, Floral, strawberry fruit with a licorice twist, quite nice. What I like in Provencal rose. B+
Monday out to Newark to pick up Betsy and her sister, I had a cold dinner ready for our return. Salmorejo with shrimp, hiyyako, plus assorted vegetable leftovers. Wine was the 2010 Pinon “Les Trois Argiles” Vouvray. Classic sec-tendre Chenin, apple meets tropical fruit, beautiful balance, nice length. B+
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.